SAN FRANCISCO — In a decision that sent shockwaves through Silicon Valley, a jury found that Kleiner Perkins did not engage in gender discrimination or retaliation against its former employee Ellen Pao, though a judge initially rejected the jury's decision due to a miscount.

Pao, a former partner at premiere venture capital firm Kleiner, Perkins Caufield & Byers, sued her ex-employer for $16 million in lost wages, as well as punitive damages which could have added tens of millions more. After a month of testimony and two days of deliberations, the 12 men and women of the jury gathered in San Francisco Superior Court to render their verdict in the four claims at hand.

Among the claims: that Kleiner discriminated against her because of her gender by failing to promote her and firing her and retaliated against her because she spoke up about her perceived treatment before filing the lawsuit.

The six men and six women of the jury initially rejected all four claims before it was revealed that it had miscounted on the final issue of retaliation against Pao. As each juror was polled, it became clear that, though the first three claims had been decided against Pao in a 10-2 vote, the jury had miscounted — it was one short of the required majority on the fourth claim of whether Kleiner had retaliated against Pao after she complained at the end of 2011 and filed the suit in 2012.

Turns out count was wrong on #EllenPao's claim in retaliation. Only 8-4. One short of nine needed. Jury just headed back to deliberation.

Amid much confusion, the 12 jurors were sent back to reach a consensus on the final point. A court spokesperson said the court officials had already made accommodations to stay late, and the jury could continue to deliberate for hours past the court's usual closing time. Some two hours after their first try, the jurors returned to the courtroom with the same verdict, only with the right numbers — Ellen Pao had again lost all four of her claims against Kleiner.

7. Hopefully my case will inspire the venture capital industry to level the playing field for everyone, including women and minorities

At issue was whether or not Pao was discriminated against on the basis of her gender during her turbulent seven-year tenure, then retaliated against and ultimately fired when she complained about it.

Her suit claimed a colleague with whom she had a brief affair had sabotaged her career and pointed to several moments which she thought indicated an office culture of sexism, including a racy poetry book given to her by a superior on Valentine's Day and a dinner at Al Gore's apartment from which she was excluded. She claimed was denied promotions given to equally or lesser qualified male partners and when she complained, senior partners lashed out at her and eventually fired her abruptly.

For four and a half weeks, high-powered litigators representing each side battled over this question in a San Francisco court room, each painting a wildly different narrative of Pao's time at the storied firm, which has backed such iconic tech brands as Google and Amazon.

The two Bay Area law firms representing Pao have cast her as a promising venture capitalist whose trajectory to the upper echelon of the firm was cut short by Kleiner Perkins' deep-rooted and zealously guarded "boys club" culture.

Kleiner Perkins' own lawyers sought to dismantle this story by casting Pao as an arrogant and entitled under-performer who constantly clashed with co-workers. In the defense's view, her personality was not the right fit for an investor and when she realized she was failing, she cooked up the lawsuit as a way to squeeze some cash out of Kleiner Perkins.

Over the course of the trial, lawyers grilled a string of Pao's former colleagues, including big-name investors like John Doerr and Mary Meeker, in addition to experts and other witnesses. The media watched intently as the normally cloistered inner workings of the firm were put on display.

Performance reviews, email threads and seating charts were dug up and pored over. Lawyers doggedly picked apart details like what was said during an allegedly raunchy conversation on a plane ride and whether or not a senior partner told Pao that women were not invited to an event because they "kill the buzz." Witness recollections grew murkier as the points in question grew touchier, and jurors were left to sort out the muddled truth.

The six men and six women of the jury — a diverse group that includes a painter, a subway station manager, a physical therapist and a prison nurse — followed closely with rapt attention, posing incisive questions to witnesses along the way. In an unusual call, Judge Harold Kahn allowed the jurors to submit the questions anonymously for him to read aloud after each lawyer had their turn.

One juror says "this was arguably one of the most difficult decisions I have ever made." He says he based it on evidence. #ellenpao

"Just remember when you go into that jury room, you are the conscience of this community," Lawless told the jury as she finished her closing argument on Wednesday. "Let Kleiner Perkins, and the entire venture capital community, know that every employee who works hard deserves a fair and equitable workplace."

The trial has struck a nerve in Silicon Valley as it encapsulated longstanding issues related to gender imbalance in the tech sector. The lack of gender parity is particularly true of the world of venture capital, which is even more male-dominated than the companies it fuels.

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